Ted Vaill: Seventy or eighty arch-conservative Tea Party members of the House and Senate have held this country hostage to their right-wing demands that we sacrifice entitlements belonging to ordinary, hard working Americans for the benefit of their rich friends. What is the mood of the ordinary American? Disgust.

Tracy Emblem: The United States and Mexico must partner to resolve economic problems related to Mexico’s poverty, employment, income disparity, drug corruption, and democratic governance. Unless we change our policies, “securing our borders” will continue to be another catchy phrase used by politicians without real results.

Andrea Nill: Pierce isn’t the first lawmaker to go after the children of immigrants. Since taking office, Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA) has tried and failed to pass seven pieces of legislation that would either repeal or reinterpret the 14th Amendment’s definition of citizenship. Most recently, Bilbray took his anti-14th Amendment crusade to the state-level, backing the Taxpayer Revolution’s “Anchor Baby” reform initiative which sought to limit the rights and benefits of the U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants by redefining the 14th Amendment’s jurisdiction.

Tracy Emblem: Fortunately, President Obama showed common sense by placing a hold on newly proposed off shore-drilling plans while an investigation into the disaster is underway. Congress should reconsider the lifting the currently proposed offshore drilling ban and protect our coastal waters for our future generations.

Tracy Emblem: California Congressman Brian Bilbray, Chair of the Immigration Reform Committee, and former FAIR lobbyist, offers no real solutions to the immigration debate. In response to Arizona’s new radical immigration bill, Bilbray supported its legality and explained that police could spot illegal immigrants merely by the way they dress. His remarks demonstrate a lack of critical thinking skills necessary for leadership in Congress on complex, human, social and economic issues.

Tracy Emblem: Private insurance companies, immune from anti-trust laws, have held Americans hostage to health care premium increases. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Wellpoint and its subsidiaries paid out over $22,715,439 for lobbying with our health care premiums.

Health-care reform proponents claim that few undocumented immigrants enrolled in Medicaid even before proof of citizenship was required. If that’s true, Republicans are essentially belly-aching over a non-issue.

The California Field Poll released today shows Barack Obama has widened his lead to a 55% to 33% margin over John McCain with 4% voting for other candidates and 8% undecided amongst likely voters. If this holds up, it will be the largest margin any candidate has won in California since World War II.

Wellness

Carole Bartolotto: The problem with concluding that GMOs are safe is that the argument for their safety rests solely on animal studies. These studies are offered as evidence that the debate over GMOs is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Environmentalism

Walker Foley: Elected officials seem to think there’s only one side of this property rights argument. The people who live in these communities have rights too, but the oil companies seem to have the jump on [the politicians’] side of the fence.